Emma
by Serenayde
Summary: Emma, after losing her mother goes to live with her father whom she has never met. About family, acceptance and dealing with stuff.
1. Chapter 1

EMMA

**Moving ****- - Again**

"No Mum, this time I am putting down my foot, I am not moving again! I like it here"

Emma was lying, she hated it in Baltimore, but they'd only just moved there from Atlanta a few months before, and she was sick of the inconsistency.

"Darling I think it would be good for us, it's just not working out here"

Emma scoffed; how could she possibly know that it wasn't going to work out after so short a time? "I swear mom, if I have to go into foster care just to stay here I will"

"I've found a few nice places for us to live, I'm sure you'll like it"

Grace sighed, she knew it would be hard work convincing her daughter to leave, it had been easier when she was younger; Emma just thought it was another adventure; she'd counted herself as one of the lucky ones. Emma was growing up now, beginning to know what she wanted and what she needed, better than Grace herself. They'd had the repercussions of what happened when she didn't get it, the scar on Emma's wrist, made three years ago reminded Grace not to go to far.

"Sure," Emma replied "Mom you promised me last time that this would be the last move that we make, you know I'm not going to be around here much longer, once I'm eighteen I'm off to see my father; legally you can't keep me from him then"

This was a familiar argument, Grace was afraid what would happen when Emma turned 18, there was no doubt that she would leave to go find her father, but the lies that Grace had tied herself up in would come undone and her daughter wouldn't want anything to do with her once Emma found out what she'd done.

"How sure are you that he even wants you? He hasn't come looking for you yet has he? It's been fourteen years Emma; You think he would have at least popped in by now right? For the last time, I am putting my foot down, and you know my shoe size is bigger than yours, we are moving Emma!"

Tears swelled up in Emma's eyes. "But you promised mom, you promised me" she mumbled

Emma dragged her feet out the door her head down and she left for school, it was much earlier than she normally left, but she would need the extra time for walking. In her class, she had asked the girls to call her Em-J, just like she had asked girls the last three years to do, a new name a new start she figured. It still hadn't worked; 14yr old Emma felt like an outsider; she was the freak, the new kid who'd has yet to make any progress with her friendships. She knew the other girls asked her out on the weekends just to be courteous, but if it went like any of her other schools this would eventually stop. Luckily around that time her mother usually decided to up and go. Her classmates had been astounded when they'd asked her the number of schools she'd been to; "Eight" she replied.

Emma appeared more mature for her age than those of her peers, she'd always got on better with children a little older than her, but with changing schools so often, it was hard enough being accepted by children her own age besides making friends with older students. Her best friends were in stories, her conversations with music and dance. In short she was alone.

Her school day finished and she walked back home, her anger easily visible on her face, ready to go to battle with her mother.


	2. Chapter 2

Hi all readers! sorry about the wait, hopefully this is a little better than the last one… and just sp you know it may take me a couple more chapters to get to who her father is and to the 'Criminal Minds' parts. If you want to guess who her father is, he is one of the main characters. It's not hard to figure out if you consider that Emma is fourteen =]

Happy reading!

**Shopping**

As Emma walked onto the front porch she saw there was a note tapped to the door:

'Emma, gone to the supermarket, will be back late'

Thank god she thought; time left for relaxing after all. So she settled down in the computer room to do some homework and listen to music.

"Okay got the breakfast cereal, milk, bread and food for lunches, I think I am set" Grace muttered to herself. She made her way to the aisle and then walked out the store to put them in her car.

"Oh Shoot!" Grace exclaimed when she dropped a bag of shopping; the milk was all over the ground. As she bent down to pick the bag up she jumped when a man spoke from behind her:

"Well now, looks like we have a bit of a problem here don't we mam? Now don't trouble yourself, let me do that for you"

Grace smiled, and here she was thinking the days had passed when you could find a kind stranger willing to help… Cute strangers too, his blonde hair and green eyes were amazing she thought, but he did stare at her a bit too much, it was disconcerting. She quickly thanked the man and walked quickly to the front door and watched as the man walked to his deep blue truck. She didn't know why, but he had sent a shiver down her spine.

"The shopping's in the car Emma!"

In the middle of doing her homework with her iPod stuck in her ears Emma could not hear.

"Where is that girl?" said Grace wondered aloud. She found Emma listening to her iPod… again, that girl never went anywhere without it. So she pulled it out.

"What mom?" said Emma moodily, she never did like people interrupting her music time, and with her Mom wanting her to move again, she was not the happiest person on the planet.

"Shopping honey, would be great if you could help me"

Grace wondered when she should tell her the good news; well at least it would be good news to Emma.

Once the shopping was done, Grace could no longer hold it in; "We're not moving, I pulled some strings, got a permanent job, I start next week. You can stay at this school, you can begin to make friends sweetheart, real friends, not the temporary ones you have been having over these last years. I realise that you need to have a place to call home, and I haven't given you that."

Emma gave her Mom a hug, she was overjoyed, she had never expected to stay, it was always her mother who got her way, she was after all the parent, but one thing was bugging her. So Emma stepped back and said "Mom, I love that you're staying for me, but I just want you to know, you have given me a feeling of home, and it's with you; I could never call anywhere home without you in it"

Emma had never said anything like that to Grace since Emma's Godmothers death, though Grace reasoned, that was when all the moving started so could explain why.

Amidst this happy moment Grace saw something big and blue out of the corner of her eye. It was a blue truck that had just pulled up outside their house. She recognised it as the man's car from the supermarket earlier that day, Emma stared towards her again, she was about to become in view of the window when Grace took out Emma's legs from underneath her.

"What was that for Mom?" Emma yelled, massaging her sore legs. She looked up at her mother and saw a real fear in her eyes. "Mom, what's wrong, are you okay?"

"Emma, listen to me," Grace said quietly, "there is a man outside who I met in the supermarket today. He must have followed me home so he knows I'm here."

Emma started to panic. They heard a door slam shut. He was walking to the door.

"We got to get out of here Mom, or at least hide."

Grace sighed "Honey, he knows I'm here, and there is no time to get outside, where will we go, there's no where to go but out the front door, the fences are too high." Emma interrupted her, but Grace cut across "Honey, he knows I'm here, but he doesn't know you're here. If both of us hide he'll search the whole house, if one of us hides, he'll never know you exist. Now I want you to go into my room and hide, under the bed and pull the wooden side across so it looks like there's no gap, do it quickly now, and do not come out do you hear me, not for anything, no matter what happens, not until it is absolutely safe for you. Do not come even if I call you. If I am calling to you, only come out if I say 'it's time to go to school.' Okay Emma? Answer me, you promise?"

Emma replied that she did. She ran into her mother's bedroom, rolled under her mother's bed and pulled across the wooden slides that would conceal her.


	3. Chapter 3

_N.B. sorry about the wait… again. It's been hectic… hopefully you like this one -. it's a bit short, but any longer and I'm not sure how it would have turned out. Still haven't gotten to the part that involves the Criminal Minds parts but that should be within the next couple of chapters or so. And just so you know why I'm taking so long to post all these, I've been writing the other chapters too, so there may at times be like three posted at once… however this is not one of those times sorry - you'll have a long wait again. _

**Lost**

Her mother quickly pushed something into her hands and ran to the living room just as the front door opened and was slammed shut. The words "Honey I'm home!" resounding off the walls of their house.

Emma couldn't make out the muffled words her mother replied with, but she could determine the tone; her mother was scared.

"Why did you just drive off like that sweetheart? You know I was supposed to come with you right? And you, you just LEFT ME THERE LIKE AN IDIOT. What do you have to say to that, you know I ju... ju... just don't like it when you do stuff like this, you always do it, you always do it, you always do it. AND I DON'T LIKE IT."

Emma wasn't prepared for what happened next. The bedroom door, where Emma was concealed banged open. She could hear two sets of footsteps enter.

"This is our bedroom" the man said, "now who has been in it, has someone else been in it that you haven't told me about, now TELL ME THE TRUTH. Or I swear, I swear to god I will kill you right here and now."

There was silence

"You're not telling me Grace, you know what that makes me think? It makes me think that you have had someone else here, in our bedroom. How could you Grace? How could you?"

Grace frowned "H... how do you know my name?"

"KNOW YOUR NAME?" the man screamed "Dear dear grace, I've been watching you for so long now, I know what we've shared, you know it too, you can't deny it.

"I don't know what you're talking about…"

All Emma could hear now was heavy fast breathing.

Followed by a loud bang reverberating in her ears

A gunshot

Silent tears started forming in her eyes; she knew she couldn't make a sound.

She heard the front door opened and slammed shut, car start and drive away.

Emma wanted to move, but she couldn't. The silent tears turned into violent sobs and she couldn't stop shaking. Not for what seemed like hours.


	4. Chapter 4

_**N.B **It has been a while, hasn't it? Still don't own anything, never will_

_Enjoy,_

**White Walls**

Something was dripping through the mattress on the bed. It took Emma a few moments to recognize the red fluid; it was blood. She screamed and scrambled out from underneath the bed. Her eyes locked on her mother and again she could not move, her mother had been her whole world, the only person that she took from place to place as they moved across the country, the only consistency that existed in her life.

Emma did not even hear the footsteps approaching.

"Oh my God, what the hell happened here?" it was their neighbor, Gavin. "Emma, kiddo are you okay? You gotta tell me what happened"

She heard herself say "I don't know, I only just got home"

Emma didn't know what made her lie. But, she couldn't undo that now.

Gavin took her back to his house and Emma scarcely paid attention to anything that happened. She realized that he must have called the police considering they were crawling all over house. One officer kept asking Emma all these questions, all she could say was "I don't know".

Gavin and his wife Caroline said had she was to stay there for the night until further arrangements could be made. In their spare bedroom she stared at the mirror. She looked like her, there was nothing different about her; she could have looked in the mirror a week ago and wouldn't have noticed the difference. Emma was looking for something sort or scarring on her body that would signify what she went through today, what she felt; cuts, bruising, anything. But there was nothing. She couldn't describe why this was so upsetting to her, but tears were falling fast down her face.

Waking up in the morning, it was like when you're at camp, and after the first night, when you wake up you have absolutely no idea where you are, then memories of the day before flood through your mind. But instead of excitement, Emma was only filled with an ache she couldn't explain.

The next two days Emma was like a robot, doing everything mechanically. All she did with her time was to write letters to her only friend Jake. He'd been her friend for three or four years now. It was a bit old-fashioned writing letters, but they both liked it that way, they never exchanged email, home numbers or even cell phone numbers.

It wasn't until there was a mention of foster homes that she cried in front of anyone when she remembered the conversation with her mother, one of the last she's had

"_I swear_ _mom, if I have to go into foster care just to stay here I will_". It was a cruel irony.

Emma was directed by one of the officer's to grab a bag and she would be going to her new home

"Only temporary until someone can be found to take care of you of course" he'd said. She could tell he was a bit taken aback by her reply;

"You won't, my mother had no one but me, no family but me, no friends but me, at least no one she was close enough to that would take a fourteen year old in. No. I'll be in foster care, bounced around. The percentage of children adopted above seven are low, the percentage decreases dramatically as the child gets older and is in their teens. No one wants to take in a fourteen year old, not just my mothers transient friends."

She was taken to an idyllic looking house, if she had seen it a week before she would have loved it. But now, what the house looked like had no effect on her. When she saw her new 'parents', the Campbell's she could almost laughed with derision; they were old, fat, looked like they cared, but really they took in kids so they could feel like they've done their part in the world. A self-fulfilling act was all. 

The old lady took her up to what was to be her new room. It was white, again, just like in Gavin and Caroline's spare room. "Why doesn't anyone put any colour into rooms, are they trying to make everything look plain and dismal?" Emma thought she'd said it to herself, but when she heard the old lady's soft reply that she could paint it any colour she wanted later, Emma guessed that she had said it out loud. Surprisingly her own rudeness didn't bother her; rudeness shown by anyone was normally her pet hate.

The next few days past just like the last few. There were more questions, to which she gave her now favourite answer "I don't know", more people to meet, like her new foster family. The Campbell's had five other children already living with them, three boys and two girls. The only surprise came when the old lady told her there was a young girl waiting at the door for her. As she thumped her way down the stairs and opened the door she saw it was Ellie Freeman, a girl from school, not one she was particularly close to, or one that she'd even told where she was, she hadn't been in contact with any of the people from school in a week.

"Em-J? I know I'm unexpected, but I thought you could do with someone to talk to. I'm really sorry about your mom"

Emma was caught unawares. "How the hell, how'd you know about that?"

Ellie explained that her father was in the police, that he'd told her. She'd gotten him to find out where Emma was now.

"Can I come in?" She asked tentatively. Emma moved aside to let her in. She had seen Ellie around other people, and knew she was smart when it same to other people. Ellie knew what questions to ask and what to leave unsaid. She would be okay to have around.

Ellie followed her into the kitchen. "Em-J" she said "Do you mind if I stay for lunch? It's just my Dad's at work, and I have no-one else, there's no one at home." Emma was glad Ellie's questions were easy to answer; a simple yes or a no was all that was required. But throughout the day Emma began talking, really talking, more than she had in the past week, talking, laughing, crying about her mom. Ellie even stayed the night there.

The next morning when Emma got up, the old lady came in. She told Emma that she was to go back to her house and gather up more of her things, that the house was to be cleared out as soon as possible. Emma hated to be told so bluntly that her old life was ended.

She looked over at Ellie "Would you come with me?"

Ellie nodded, "Sure thing Em-J".

As they were leaving the house Emma stopped suddenly, making Ellie walk into her as she added 'Ellie, could you call me Emma? I know I asked you to call me Em-J, but the fact is, that isn't my name, no one who's ever been important to me has ever called me anything apart from Emma". Ellie smiled and nodded, as if she'd been waiting for her to ask.

It was hard for Emma to walk into her house and start packing her things. She never realized how messy she was, she had things scattered throughout the place. When she passed her mother's bedroom she stopped. Her mother was gone, but the evidence that her body had lain there was still evident. No one had cleaned up the blood. She shook violently. She stood there for a long time. When Ellie saw her all Ellie was saying was "I know sweetie, I know". That was all it took, a few words indicating that someone understood her. Emma fell to the ground, sobbing, with anger, fear and grief flowing through her.


	5. Chapter 5

_**Surprise surprise, I still don't own anything that has anything to do with criminal minds – I know, shock horror right?**_

**Beckoning Questions**

Emma, still on the floor, felt her head pound from crying too much. She reached for a tissue in her pocket and found something else in there too; a key. She recognised it as the key her mother gave her moments before she died. She had no idea what it was, but it looked familiar, like she'd seen it long before. She soon realised that it was to her mother's safe. The safe that her mother said contained all the important information should anything happen to her.

It didn't take long to sort everything out. Emma and her mother had moved so often that they'd only really kept the essentials. It was tough, throwing out her mother's clothes, and personal belongings. Emma of course decided to keep some of them, like a soft brown leather jacket that her mother loved to wear and her favorite pieces of jewelry. Emma from that day onwards never took off the emerald ring or almost matching necklace. The safe went back with her to her new home too. But Emma couldn't bring herself to open it, not just yet anyhow. She wore the key on a simple chain for safe-keeping.

'Emma, I hate to be blunt and insensitive, but sweetie, I just wondered when you were thinking about having the funeral? Your mom has been released from the morgue, and I think that she should be put to rest now? What do you think?"

Emma nodded, Ellie was right, but she had no idea how to do this, or what to do.

Ellie seemed to be thinking along the same lines.

"I can do it; I can help you if you want. You just tell me what you want and I'll do all the talking, all the organizing and ringing up and that for you."

The truth was Emma had no idea what to do. When her godmother had died suddenly, the only thing that Emma had done was pick one song. She'd never discussed this sort of thing with her mother either, what she wanted when she was dead. What songs she would like, or where she wanted to be buried.

Some how Ellie and Emma got it all sorted out. The day of the funeral was a strange day. In the dead of summer it poured with rain. Cliché Emma thought, but her mother loved cliché. Emma didn't know what made her cry the most; the song she had picked or the fact that five people turned out for her funeral. Of that five, only Emma had truly known her, had truly loved her. Emma regretted that she had not known more about her mother's past and about old friends who could have come to say goodbye.

Long after it had turned dark, in the cold quiet of the night, Emma somehow found the courage to open the safe. It contained photos, letters, official looking documents, even test results. But what caught Emma's eye was her name. Well not her whole name, just her middle name; Morgan. There was a slim file on a Derek Morgan; a work number, home address and a letter. Emma was itching to open it. But it wasn't for her. Maybe she could just mail the letter.

She was a bit confused. Of all the people to write to, to leave such personal information about in a safe, it was someone that Emma had never heard of. Emma looked through the photos. They were mostly of Grace with this guy. A thought suddenly struck Emma; he couldn't be? Could he? Emma traced the outline of her nose and her chin, seeing a resemblance between her and this guy. In the photo her mother looked a little older than Emma did herself, but not much, still a teenager. Her mom had only been 20 when Emma was born. Emma at least knew that she had been with her father for a long time before Emma was born, high school sweethearts. They had also split up before Emma as born. She didn't even know if her father knew she existed. In some ways, she really hoped he didn't - that his negligence as a father could be totally and completely over-looked.

Emma scrambled through the safe looking for 'ah ha here it is' she said out loud; her birth certificate. As a child she had never realised how strange it was not to have seen her birth certificate, her mother would never let her. But here it was, after all this time. The answer to the question that had constantly been on her lips – who was her father?

Written there, plain as day was a name. It was Derek Morgan.

It all became clear, the safe, why her mother pushed the key to it into her hands before she died. Her mother had left Emma a way to find her father.


End file.
